Sri Ra­manuja Jayanti

Re­spect to the South In­dian philoso­pher Ra­manuja Acharya. It was Ra­manuja who ad­vo­cated that wor­ship of Lord Vishnu is the best and the vi­able method of at­tain­ing Mok­sha or sal­va­tion.

Tamil cal­en­der is con­sulted ev­ery year to de­cide on the ex­act date as to when the cel­e­bra­tions are to be ini­ti­ated. Usu­ally Ra­manuja Acharya Jayanti falls in month of Chaitra and it usu­ally falls on Thiru­vathi­rai Nak­sha­tra.

Ra­manuja Acharya was revered as most knowl­edge­able Acharya who ad­vo­cated the phi­los­o­phy and ethics of Vaish­nav­ism. The Acharya was born in 1017 CE at Sripe­rum­budur in Tamil Nadu. His birth name was Ilaya Peru­mal and the revered Acharya con­tin­ued to spread the light of vi­sion through­out his life.

Pro­moter of In­tel­lec­tual Form of Bhakti

Shri Ra­manuja Acharya pro­moted the in­tel­lec­tual form of Bhakti by guid­ing his fol­low­ers on a dis­tinct path away from the Ad­vita prin­ci­pals. Shri Ra­manuja was a great philoso­pher and thinker, as is ev­i­dent from his philo­soph­i­cal works namely Vedartha Sam­graha, Shri Bhasya and Bha­gavad Gita Bhasya.

It was Ra­manuja Acharya who prop­a­gated the thought that devo­tees can choose their own method of wor­ship and reach the high­est level of devo­tion through Bhakti. As Shri Ra­manuja Acharya was a de­voted Bharamin his sug­gested means are usu­ally ac­cepted as a way of at­tain­ing Mok­sha. He was bet­ter known as a preacher who guided the devo­tees on the path of Nir­vana and helped his devo­tees at­tain Nir­vana.

Due to the unique na­ture of his work he is not only re­mem­bered by his fol­low­ers but also by thinkers and philoso­phers who have deep un­der­stand­ing of the Hindu cul­ture and its tra­di­tions. His works hold much rel­e­vance to­day and are con­sulted by the schol­ars, when­ever the need arises. Cel­e­bra­tions

The great­ness of Sri Ra­manuja Acharya can be un­der­stood from the fact that he is wor­shiped through­out the coun­try. Devo­tees through­out South­ern and North­ern parts of In­dia make spe­cial cel­e­bra­tions for the day. On this aus­pi­cious oc­ca­sion a tra­di­tional holy bath is given to the ‘Uth­sava Murti’ or statue of Sri Ra­manuja Acharya. Spe­cial prayers and recital ses­sions on teach­ings of Sri Ra­manuja Acharya are held on this day.

Cul­tural cel­e­bra­tions too are held in tem­ples across the coun­try on Shri Ra­manuja Acharya Jayanti. Recital of Upan­ishads is also con­sid­ered aus­pi­cious on this day as Shri Ra­manuja Acharya was deeply in­volved in cre­ation of these Upan­ishads.

In Soth­ern part of In­dia spe­cial ar­range­ments are made by devo­tees in Tamil Nadu to cel­e­brate the day in a big way. The houses are spe­cially dec­o­rated for the day and devo­tees en­sure that they make a round of the tem­ple to seek bless­ings from Shri Ra­manuja Acharya on his jayanti.